Photo/Illutration Toshihiro Suzuki holds green onions at his farm in Yokoshibahikari, Chiba Prefecture, in December 2020. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tractors and trucks came and went, and sharp incline conveyors transported "naganegi" green onions when I visited Green Gift, a farming enterprise at Kujukurihama beach in Chiba Prefecture.

The company grows rice, cabbage and "hakusai" (napa cabbage) on its 50-hectare farm. But the green onions are the passion of Toshihiro Suzuki, 36, the president of Green Gift.

Raised in the coastal sandy soil, the allium goes by the trademark name of Shirasuna Negi (literally, white sand onion).

But right after the trademark had been registered and the onions were all set for distribution, the COVID-19 pandemic struck.

A spate of order cancellations from supermarkets and restaurants ensued, and Suzuki was forced to discard more than 80 tons of his cherished onions. 

And it didn't help that his trusted technical interns from Thailand and Indonesia, whom he calls "our company's ace crew," could not return to Japan after their home leave.  

But that wasn't the first setback for Green Gift. In autumn 2019, Typhoon No. 15 destroyed every greenhouse on the farm. And earlier, in the immediate aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, the company suffered damage from rumors over radiation that caused consumers to refrain from buying vegetables.

"But in terms of business losses, the pandemic has done far greater damage than the typhoon and the quake," Suzuki said.

With the region's older farmers retiring one after another in recent years, Suzuki has been fighting an endless battle managing the farmland entrusted to his company and struggling to protect the local job market.

It has been some years since the younger generation's reluctance to do farming became noticeable.

Senior citizens currently make up 70 percent of the farming population. Agricultural land that has been abandoned and laid fallow has now grown to a size roughly equal to Toyama Prefecture.

And with the pandemic now added to the equation, concerns about "corona abandonment of farming" are heard across the nation.

Tokyo and two other prefectures came under the government's pre-emergency measures to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus on April 12.

When can we expect a revival of food service establishments around the nation and the return of farm produce consumption to the pre-pandemic level?

I dearly hope for the robust growth of the new brand green onions, raised lovingly on the coastal farm in Chiba Prefecture. 

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 13       

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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